More Than I Deserve
by Violet Redmoor
Summary: A MWPP story. Would you wander into a house where a werewolf was waiting for full moon? Well, James, Sirius and Peter would. One-shot.


Disclaimer: Struggling to find original disclaimer... and failing. I am not JK Rowling and I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or world.  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Description: MWPP, set in fifth year. Three very foolish students come to the Shrieking Shack just before the moon is due to rise. Or maybe they are three wonderful friends who have just managed to turn themselves into Animagi... One-shot.  
  
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Remus Lupin huddled in a corner of the Shrieking Shack. He did not need a watch or clock to count down the time. Twenty minutes, twenty-five at most, and the moon would rise. And when it did.  
  
His clothes were piled neatly in another corner of the room and he had only his cloak wrapped around him for warmth. He did not have enough robes that he could afford to have another set ripped to shreds when he transformed. Of course, sometimes he came to himself to find that he had ripped them with teeth and claws anyway, just as he wrecked the furniture and wounded himself. More than once he had had to be carried back up to the castle. When he was the wolf - he shuddered at the very thought - he was always bent on destruction.  
  
It was despicable luck for full moon to fall on a Hogsmeade weekend, but then he was used to that. Luck had never been his friend. He had been feeling terrible all day, unable to really enjoy himself. James, Peter and Sirius - his three best friends - had done their best to cheer him up, but when his head ached and his stomach lurched every time he moved, there was little enough that anyone could do.  
  
He sighed, and pulled the cloak a little closer around him. It was cold here tonight. He would have given anything to be up in the cosy Gryffindor common room with his friends. They would be gathered around the fire right now, perhaps playing cards or chess, perhaps thinking up some new revenge on Snape or the other Slytherins. If Lily was there, James would be showing off and making a dreadful fool of himself. That was always entertaining to watch.  
  
There was a scuffling noise from the tunnel that led to the Shack. That was surprising; even though he was no real danger to animals, they all tended to stay away from here. From him. He had never seen so much as a rat here. He was not curious enough to investigate the noise, though. He would shortly have other things to worry about, and when the screams started, whatever animal had found a way into his domain would leave in a hurry.  
  
Surely that could not be footsteps? No one had ever been able to get past the Whomping Willow that was planted at the tunnel's entrance. That was, after all, the whole point of it. Teachers did not let students near it, if they could help it, not since Davy Gudgeon had almost lost an eye. And on a full moon, they would be twice, three, four times as wary.  
  
But there were the footsteps again. You're imagining it, he told himself. You're ill, and nervous, and your mind's playing tricks on you. They would never let anyone up here. You're too dangerous.  
  
A murmur of voices. He was not imagining it; he had definitely heard that! Worse, he had recognised the voice. He stared in horror at the door to the room, listening in silence in the hope that he had been mistaken. They knew better. They would never.  
  
Then he heard the unmistakeable sound of an opening door. Footsteps on the wooden floor downstairs. More voices.  
  
"Moony?" called one.  
  
What were they doing here? Go away, he thought desperately. Go!  
  
The footsteps came up the stairs, and the door to the room opened. Through it came James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. They all looked slightly breathless, and terribly pleased with themselves. James' hair was even messier than usual, and even Sirius, grinning broadly, was a little untidy. He did not seem to have noticed the smear of dirt across his face.  
  
"Are you mad?" said Remus, too shocked to do more than whisper.  
  
"It's been suggested," admitted Sirius, sounding for all the world as if there was nothing wrong.  
  
"What do you think you're doing? Get out of here! In fifteen minutes the moon will be up and I'll." he choked slightly on the words, and James took advantage of the pause.  
  
"We know. We've come to keep you company."  
  
"What? They all say you're the cleverest students in the school, so why don't you show it? I - am - a - werewolf." He spoke each word harshly, his voice getting stronger. "I could kill all of you! At best, you'd be.like me. Monsters."  
  
"That's enough of that," said James sharply. "You're not a monster. As to how we're planning on keeping you company." he glanced at Sirius and Peter, and the excited looks crept back onto their faces.  
  
"You're only a danger to humans," said Sirius. He sounded like a little kid with a secret, but Remus was not interested. The tunnel was long, and if they were still in it when he transformed they wouldn't stand a chance.  
  
"Get out. Go on, get lost. You've all lost your minds. If you're too stupid to think of yourselves then think of me. Do you want to have me locked up by the Ministry as a killer? How do you think I'd cope if I killed you all? If you hurry, you'll have time to get out of here." He never usually spoke up to them, but he was so scared that the words ran off his tongue before he could even think about what he was saying.  
  
"Remus, calm down." James finally sounded alarmed. "It's going to be fine, you'll see. You're only a danger to humans."  
  
"Look," snapped Remus, "you may be the most popular, clever and good- looking students in the school but I'm afraid to break it to you that you are both still human. Now get out of here."  
  
James and Sirius exchanged exasperated looks over his head. He could feel the rising moon tugging at him, and yet they were acting like this was just another prank. How could he get them to realise how *serious* this was? Before it was too late and they all died for their foolishness.  
  
"We're just going to have to show him," muttered James.  
  
"What are you talking about? Just..." The words died in his mouth. Sirius had vanished, but where he had stood a moment before was a great, shaggy black dog, which trotted over to him and stuck its nose in his ear. As he stared at it in amazement it sat back on its haunches. He could have sworn it was grinning at him.  
  
"I... what..."  
  
The dog pawed at the edge of his cloak and he tugged it more securely around himself. Maybe he was going mad. He looked back at James and Peter, both of whom were grinning so widely it looked like their faces would crack in two. James' eyes were flushed with excitement, and Peter was dancing on the spot.  
  
"It's good, isn't it?" said James gleefully.  
  
"What did you do? Is that... that dog... *Sirius*? Did you Transfigure him?" He was impressed despite himself. "That's a bit beyond our level, isn't it..."  
  
"Oh, it's much better than that!" chuckled James. He seemed to stretch slightly and then he too was gone and a stag stood proudly in his place. Remus just gaped. He snapped his head towards Peter only to find that Peter was nowhere to be seen. He stared wildly around. There was a tiny scrabbling noise from the floor and he glanced down to see a rat sitting at his feet and looking up at him, whiskers twitching.  
  
"This is impossible," he whispered, but before he could think any further there was a sudden burst of pain and he collapsed to the floor.  
  
It was too late; the moon had risen. Every muscle in his body cramped as his arms and legs began to twitch. The pain was growing, it was filling every inch of him, it was burning, tearing him apart from inside. He screamed, his friends forgotten. He could feel his body lengthening, his hands curling into claws, and just when the pain became too much to bear and he thought he would pass out, his next scream came out as a snarl.  
  
And then it was over. He got to his feet - all four of them - a little shakily but was feeling stronger by the second. He stretched, and then shook himself vigorously, fur flying in all directions. He felt. strange. Something was different.  
  
He could think clearly. He had never been able to before, never able to do more than watch himself in horror, carried along by the rage, the madness of the wolf. He turned to see a motley trio of creatures watching him and could smell their fear. Except... except... they weren't afraid of *him*.  
  
He sat down, puzzled. Although this was better than it had ever been before, the wolf's instincts were trying to override his human thoughts. The wolf - the *were*wolf - would not by choice be sitting here calmly and trying to reason something out. It wanted to howl, to run, to attack... But there was nothing here *to* attack. His audience did not smell like prey, or food, they smelt like...  
  
Friends. Everything suddenly clicked into place. That was not fear he smelt; it was concern. Anxiety. For him. He turned and saw a great black dog, watching him with trusting eyes, a stag, poised warily between him and the others, and a rat, huddled against the paws of the dog, but not squeaking in fear or running away. Sirius, James and Peter. His friends. They had done this for him.  
  
They must have somehow sensed that the confusion was gone, that he knew what was happening. The stag relaxed visibly, and took a couple of steps forwards. The rat stopped cowering. But the dog got to its feet and trotted towards him fearlessly. It touched its nose to his. The werewolf wrinkled its nose and shook its head in surprise... and then sneezed. As if that was a signal, the other two approached, as Sirius pushed him playfully. James and Peter hesitated when he growled in return and stood again, but Sirius realised he was playing and barked happily, embarking on a canine game of tag.  
  
By the time the moon set they had exhausted themselves and lay in a tangled heap of fur, legs and tails on the floor of the Shack. Remus felt it slip from the sky, tugging at him as it went. A whine escaped the wolf's throat, and his friends all jumped slightly.  
  
The change back was almost as painful as the change into the wolf, and changing back there would be no new strength when it was over. But as soon as his form began to look more human, the others transformed as well. Never before had anyone sat with him through the transformation - no one would have been able to. But James grasped one of his hands and Sirius the other, and they stayed with him until it was over and he collapsed to the floor once more.  
  
He ached all over. He felt as tired as if he had run round the whole grounds, his head was pounding dully and he thought that if he moved he might be sick. Cautiously, he tried to raise himself from the floor, but his whole arm cramped the second he tried to move it.  
  
"Ouch," he said weakly, his voice hoarse.  
  
"Remus?" James' voice brought him to his senses. He suddenly realised that he was lying naked on the floor in front of his three best friends, and that he was holding Sirius' hand. Blushing furiously, he forced his numb fingers to release Sirius, and with a great deal of effort managed to sit, clutching his knees to his chest.  
  
"Robes," he whispered, as forcefully as he could manage, which was not very. They seemed to get the point though, because Peter - ever eager to be of use - scurried to the corner of the room to collect Remus' clothes. Remus could still see the rat in his friend's movements. Sirius stretched lazily, and shook his hair from his eyes. The black dog had used just such a gesture. Remus found a smile working its way onto his tired face.  
  
"You did that... you became Animagi." There was no other explanation for their transformations. "Why?" he asked, as Peter handed him his robes. He was so stiff and sore that dressing made his limbs scream and his eyes water, but he was determined to recover what little dignity he had left.  
  
"So we could keep you company, of course," said Sirius bluntly. "We know it's terrible for you, Moony..."  
  
"Though I don't think we knew just *how* terrible until last night," added James softly.  
  
"...and it was all we could think of that might help. It's taken us ages to figure out how to do it, you know. We've been looking into it since second year."  
  
Since second year. Not long after they discovered what he was. And to think he had been convinced they would hate him for it... he found a lump in his throat, and looked away from them before they realised there were tears in his eyes.  
  
"You did all that... for me?"  
  
Sirius shrugged, looking almost embarrassed. "We're your friends."  
  
"Did it help?" asked Peter anxiously.  
  
"I... yes. Yes. I've never... kept my mind before. The... the wolf usually just takes over." He looked around at them, saw the grins as they realised what a difference they had made. He wondered if he would ever be able to tell them what it meant to him, to the shy, lonely boy he had been, not only to have friends, but friends that would go to such lengths for him.  
  
"I... You..." He just did not have the words to do it. "Thanks," he finished feebly, blushing again and looking at the floor. "You three are the best friends I could ever hope for. This was..." again he struggled to explain just how grateful he was, just how much it meant. "I can't believe it. It's more than I deserve..."  
  
All three of them objected loudly.  
  
"Nonsense!" cried James. "Why wouldn't we want to help you?"  
  
He shook his head in amazement, once more forcing down tears. "You'd better go," he croaked eventually. "If they find you here when they come to collect me, there'll be an awful lot of explaining to do."  
  
"All right." James was first to his feet, and Peter scrambled up after him. He grinned at his friend, looking just as pleased with himself as when they had first appeared in the Shack last night. "See you later, Moony."  
  
"Yeah, see you, Moony." Sirius patted his shoulder before trotting past James and Peter and leading the way down the stairs.  
  
Remus watched them go, and for the first time on the morning after a full moon, he could not help but grin. 


End file.
